1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new and improved binding apparatus for bookbinding strips with flexible studs. More particularly, the invention relates to a manually operated binding machine used to compress two bookbinding strips together about a stack of paper and bend the flexible studs projecting from one strip into engagement with the other strip.
2. Prior Art
Pairs of bookbinding strips having cooperating flexible studs and grooves are often used to bind several sheets of paper together. As is illustrated and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,674,906 and 4,685,700, the flexible studs formed on one of the strips extend through holes formed in the sheets and the other strip. The excess lengths of the studs extending beyond the second strip are bent and snapped into grooves formed in the second strip. The engagement between the studs and the grooves binds the strips to the sheets of paper.
Manually and automatically operated machines are available for mechanically bending the flexible studs of the male strip into the grooves formed in the female strip. The manual binding apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,906,157 includes a pressure bar for compressing the studs toward one another and an inverted T-shaped lever. The pressure bar is lowered and pressed against the male strip by a rack and pinion mechanism. As the T-shaped lever is pivoted, a pair of blocks are moved parallel to the strips causing pins mounted to the blocks to engage the flexible studs and bend the excess lengths of the studs into the grooves.
The apparatus disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,138 includes a pressure bar which is lowered and pressed against the strip by a rotatable cam shaft. The rotatable cam shaft has a drum-type cam with two separate grooves controlling the reciprocal movement of two carriages in a direction parallel to the binding strips. Rollers mounted to the carriages bend the flexible studs into the grooves in the female strip. The disclosed apparatus is preferably motor driven, although it may also be manually operated with a lever arm.
This invention provides a simplified, manually operated desk top apparatus for bending the flexible studs of bookbinding strips. The pressure bar is manually lowered onto the upper surface of the male strip. A compressive force is applied to the pressure bar to press the bar against the male strip and the flexible studs are bent into the grooves in the female strip by manually moving a pair of blocks parallel to the strip.